The Industrial Revolution and the changing
face of Britain

An exhibition at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts
(2008-9)

Artemis Manolopoulou

During the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Britain
experienced change in all aspects of life, as a result of the
Industrial Revolution. Scientific advances and technological
innovations brought growth in agricultural and industrial
production, economic expansion and changes in living conditions,
while at the same time there was a new sense of national identity
and civic pride. The most dramatic changes were witnessed in rural
areas, where the provincial landscape often became urban and
industrialized following advances in agriculture, industry and
shipping. Wealth accumulated in the regions and there was soon a
need for country banking.

These themes were explored in the temporary exhibition The Industrial
Revolution and the Changing Face of Britain at the Barber
Institute of Fine Arts in 2008–9, and are summarized in this
essay. The exhibition displayed examples from the British Museum’s
extensive collection of English and Welsh provincial banknotes to
offer insights into the regional developments during this period.
Visitors, given the chance to examine paper money closely, were
able to see how the vignettes on banknotes could offer a narrative
of the change and development of four key themes: agriculture,
industry, shipping and maritime trade.

Agriculture

Agriculture had dominated the British economy for centuries.
During the 18th century, after a long period of enclosures, new
farming systems created an agricultural revolution that produced
larger quantities of crops to feed the increasing population. In
early 19th-century Britain, land was of great political and
economic significance: the aristocracy and gentry owned much of the
countryside, and their tenants farmed and reared livestock. New
tools, fertilizers and harvesting techniques were introduced,
resulting in increased productivity and agricultural prosperity.
Indeed, despite the phenomenon of urbanization and
industrialization, agriculture remained a principal provider of
employment in the provinces, both supporting and being supported by
industry. Geographical specialization of products was established,
with south-eastern England specializing in grain, for example, and
Scotland or Leicestershire in breeding cattle and sheep. Paper
money such as that from Yorkshire or Herefordshire illustrates the
importance of farming through idealized images of agricultural
bliss.

Industry

By the mid-18th century, population growth and increasing
foreign trade created a greater demand for manufactured goods. Mass
production was achieved by replacing water and animal power with
steam power, and by the invention of new machinery and technology.
Among other innovations, the introduction of steam power was a
catalyst for the Industrial Revolution. James Watt’s improvements
to the steam engine, and his collaboration with Matthew Boulton on
the creation of the rotative engine, were crucial for industrial
production: machinery could now function much faster, with rotary
movements and without human power. Coal became a key factor in the
success of industrialization; it was used to produce the steam
power on which industry depended. Improvements in mining technology
ensured that more coal could be extracted to power the factories
and run railway trains and steamships. Britain’s cotton and
metalworking industries became internationally important, but the
manufacture of glass, soap and earthenware also flourished.

The early mechanization of the textile industry and the
applications of new technologies, including Richard Arkwright’s
water frame for the cotton spinning wheel, revolutionized
production in the textile mills. More efficient ways of weaving
cotton helped Manchester become the most important British centre
of the cotton industry (often called ‘Cottonopolis’) and the
world’s first industrial city. Paper money issued in Lancashire
shows the importance of the textile industry in the county.

Like Manchester, Dewsbury grew substantially during the 19th
century. It became an important centre of the ‘shoddy’ industry:
that is, the recycling of old woollen products for the creation of
blankets and other woollen goods of inferior quality. A banknote
issued in Dewsbury bears an image of a local cotton recycling
factory.

The metal industry developed into one of the most profitable in
the country from the late 18th century onwards. Exported wares
increased the flow of capital into the British economy, and the
iron, copper and steel industries played an important role in
changes to the country’s infrastructure and in the expansion of
transportation networks. By the late 18th century, the west
Midlands had become one of Britain’s major industrial centres and
the area became known as the ‘Black Country’ because of its
landscape of foundries and furnaces. Birmingham saw its
metalworking industry flourish: brass fittings, buttons, guns,
nails and pins were some of the most important goods that were
mass-produced.